D-I nationals preview
Injuries cut down Devils lineup
WCRHL March 28th, 2009 at 6:44PM March 28th, 2009 6:55PM
Going to Nationals
As the Devils prepare for nationals, they will be no closer to 100% than they have been all season. Jeremy VanBuskirk and Long Duong, the team's 2 most prolific scorers, will not be making the trip. Forwards Zach Medlock and Eric Siekmann will also not be going to nationals. Defenseman Alex Dodt is expected to be back in time after suffering a broken collarbone at regionals.
Coming in to pick up some of the slack for the injury-riddled Sun Devils are 3 players from the 'B' team, which did not earn a bid to nationals. Nick Bazan, Tony Huynh, and Cody Clark will all make the trip with the D-I team. Huynh led the 'B' team in scoring and was a dependable defensive presence in the 6 games he played for the D-1 team this season. Bazan was the 2nd leading scorer for the 'B' team and scored 4 goals in 7 games for the D-1 team, including a clutch game winner over UC Irvine in December. Finally, Clark was the 'B' team's goaltender but skated out in several games for the D-I team. Cody scored more than a point per game and scored the D-I team's biggest goal all season, the 3rd period game winner over Long Beach State in the regional playoffs.
At nationals the Devils will face some tough round robin matchups against Towson (3rd in the East), UM St. Louis (2nd in the Great Plains), and Michigan (2nd in the Midwest). Both Towson and Michigan lost in the Sweet 16 at nationals last year while UMSL lost in the national championship game to Lindenwood University.